A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vending machines, and in particular, to illuminating various parts of a vending machine.
B. Problems in the Art
Vending machines have become pervasive in modern society. A primary advantage of a vending machine, both from the standpoint: of the vendor and the vendee, it is that there is no requirement of human supervision or involvement in the transaction other than the vendee. While many vending machines all are placed inside buildings or accessible only during business hours. Vending machines can be placed in remote isolated areas and in places that do not have a significant amount of lighting.
In the situation where vending machines will be utilized at night or in conditions where there is low ambient light, there is a need to assist a vendee in operating the vending machine by providing sufficient sight of the control elements related to receiving money or tokens, selecting a desired vendible item, and receiving any change, and the like.
Many types of vending machines utilize interior lighting to illuminate selections for view by the vendee. Some vending machines, which do not provide a view of the items that can be selected, illuminate a display which advertises the content of the vending machine. For example, many canned soft drink vending machines have a translucent front panel that is backlit by interior lighting inside the vending machine and which displays the trademark or trademarks of the product inside the machine.
The control elements such as selection buttons are also many times backlit from a light source or sources inside the machine. If not backlit or otherwise illuminated, the control elements (also for purposes of this description will be referred to as the user interface) may be difficult to use, even if the front display panel is backlit or the products inside the machine are visible and lit from light sources inside the machine.,
Therefore, a need has been identified to provide or increase the illumination of user interfaces of vending machines. There is also room for improvement regarding the cost and complexity of current systems for providing illumination for the display or vendible items and illumination for user interface.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an illumination system for vending machines which improves over the state of the art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a means and method for illuminating vending machine which provides adequate illumination of a user interface components of a vending machine, even at night and in locations where there is not a significant amount of external lighting.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a means and method as above described which can provide the dual function of illuminating at least portions of a user interface and provide back lighting front panel display or lighting vendible items for other uses.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a means and method as above described which is economical, durable, and efficient.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a means and method as above described which can reduce or eliminate structure or components that otherwise might be needed for illumination of user interface.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent with reference to the accompanying specification and claims.